AS Productions Board plans new student survey system

The survey system would catalog student feedback at Underground Coffee House events. // Photo by Bryn Yasui.

Associated Students Productions Board plans to develop a more effective method of collecting student feedback in the Underground Coffeehouse by the end of the year. Ideally, a new technological addition may be added to the facility for student’s greater convenience by the end of the year, according to Jonah Falk, AS production director.

The Underground Coffeehouse, where students can sip on hand-crafted drinks while listening to local music and poetry, holds events four days a week. Students can enjoy free entertainment on campus or break out of their shells to perform.

Behind the scenes, the program that runs those events has struggled with receiving a variety of student feedback, according to Falk. As production director, Falk supervises and budgets the performances at the Underground Coffeehouse.

“There’s only a short amount of time where people are in the venue before the event starts, and we don’t like to survey during the event. [We want to] just before,” Falk said.

Before every event, a few employees pass out surveys to students who attend the events at the Underground Coffeehouse to learn what can be improved for future programs.

Sophomore Jack Larsen, who has attended and performed at the Underground Coffeehouse’s Open Mic Night, has never received one of the surveys. Similar to other students who attend, Larsen said he typically arrives late to the show.

With only a short 15-minute gap before performances begin, average-student tardiness and a lack of data from surveys, AS Productions has proposed the possibility of a permanent survey system, such as a tablet or iPad in the café.

“What we’re trying to figure out is whether it makes sense to implement a permanent, mounted survey system and if students would actually go for and use it, or if it would be better to just have an online survey that they could just do on their phone, like an app,” Falk said.

The prospective addition would be mounted on either a wall or a stand within the Underground Coffeehouse for students to use, Falk said.

Similar to surveys from other outlets on campus, there would be an incentive to participate, such as a free ticket to an event or another prize along those lines. More incentive creates more consistency in data, Falk said.

The project has been asked to be reassessed by the Underground’s program staff due to the cost. Whenever a new enterprise is produced that costs money, Falk said the budget has to cut back in one area to provide for another.

“We, as a team, put together, I think, a rather inexpensive package with everything, but we’ve been encouraged to see if there’s any way we can cut that down more,” Falk said,

Falk said AS Productions is continuing to brainstorm new ideas for feedback with a concept similar to the iPad still in mind.

“I’d love it to be through by the end of the year, but it’s kind of out in the open,” Falk said. “It’s a matter of figuring out the right solution, as opposed to being arbitrary on time.”

Kim Masser, supervisor of the Underground Coffeehouse for eight years, said she has seen a lot of change during her employment. Among the changes she has seen in the past, she said she believes the new installation would effective.

“If [students] are waiting for a drink and they wandered over and that was sitting there looking at them, or if they’re sitting on the couch and they saw it over there, I think they might get up or walk over to it and see what it is,” Masser said.

Sports

By Tanner Fricke A timeout is called at one of Western’s basketball games and 20 cheerleaders hit the floor, moving into a pyramid formation. The show is about to begin. “There is nothing I love more than being on the sidelines during a really close game and […]